There was a right royal round up for a pound up at Full Council on Monday.

Some of us had anticipated a made-for-media blood letting on the Chamber Floor over whether or not District Plan Review submission hearing Councillors would be paid extra, and if so, where the money was coming from. Full Council reviews the District Plan but some staff, the Mayor and some councillors were keen to have a reduced number doing hearings and deliberations.

No exceptions
I suspect they were not unhappy to be rid of Murray Guy and me in the mix. I mean you need agreeable people to go along with all those wonderful things the planners have in store for you don't you? Money, salaries and divvy ups are a surefire combination to set some people off and this was no exception.
Hayden Evans fired the first salvo at Deputy Mayor David Stewart – then committee chairmen (Murray Guy and me) and Project Steering Group chairmen (Wayne Moultrie and Mike Baker). Hayden said we were paid too much for only a couple of hours extra work in his opinion.
A nasty, spiteful attack on Hayden's view of David Stewart's Deputy Mayoral stewardship demonstrated a lack of understanding of the role and likewise the role of a chairman. Mike Baker had done some sums on his divvy-up scheme which decimated the Deputy Mayor's pay margin and in so doing also made some unfortunate comments about David. David took it all surprisingly well and responded without being nasty. Mayor Stuart Crosby said David always supported him when needed. In the end the six councillors (David Stewart didn't vote for it, but Catherine Stewart, Mayor Stuart Crosby, Bill Grainger, Rick Curach, Wayne Moultrie and Mike Baker did) all got an extra $1400 or so at the expense of around $2000 each for Murray Guy, Hayden Evans, myself and Rick Curach. Like turkeys voting for Christmas?
I'm relaxed about it but I did note that we all shoulder different workloads with different responsibilities. Most of us do what we do because it's our field of interest. In my case I prefer doing things rather than telling people how to live and concentrate on getting things done. As an example I'm on 16 various committees and subcommittees and chair four of them. I reckon most of us pull our weight. In my seven and a half terms at council there have always been inconsistencies in workloads and remuneration.

Media darlings
In the past there have been a few shirkers (strangely also sometimes media darlings) and a few workaholics. David Stewart best summed it by saying each individual did what they did best and rarely was money a motivating factor. I said that the personal attacks were unwarranted and unjustified and David asked how would people know what anyone else did anyway. I agree. There's much more to elected members function than just turning up. Although apparently some think otherwise. There is no salary pool increase for councillors this year and Mayor Stuart Crosby, who is paid separately, declined his increase of $5,292. I'm not sure he can do that and will follow the process for future reference. We also considered the Representation Review required by law every six years. Last time the Labour Government appointed commission did what they wanted anyway after a lengthy process so don't get too excited about the democracy of the process this time. Although that lot has been given the heave ho. Council is going out to consultation with the status quo – one mayor, seven at large councillors and three ward councillors.
As expected Audit NZ gave Council a black mark for its 10 year plan. It's unsustainable as we had already noted and told them. We either cut expenditure or put rates up. Substantially. Auditor John Scott noted that at similar sized North Shore City their average rates were $501 more than here. Whoopee do. Maybe they can afford it. Comparisons are odious and unhelpful. John Scott said he'd listened in to recordings of some of our debate. Quick as a flash Mayor Stuart retorted 'so you were the one” – to much hilarity.
I'd attended a conference addressed by new minister for Local Government, Rodney Hide last week. He hoed into 10 year plans and their auditing. He said planning for 10 years was ‘crap'. He said audit had wasted 39,000 hours doing audits on them and he intended to stop it. Three years is the maximum sensible planning period he said. He told us Audit NZ was in cuckoo land. John Scott did agree with me that our three year plan was good and we had time to become 'sustainable”. Even though last years rating reform investigation concluded the present rating scheme is unsustainable long term.
Rodney Hide also said no more expensive consultation processes. Councillors are the consultative mechanism and they are accountable each three years to their electorate. There was no place for busybody politics any more. Go for it Rodney. But he'll need the hide of a rhinoceros to break down the establishment barriers that have been carefully erected by the past nine years of social engineering.

Go with the flow
At Full Council we had a go at entering into discussion with the Art Gallery about reducing their dependence on ratepayers (currently over $800,000 a year). Unsurprisingly the system moved rapidly to deflect the debate. But we will have it with all service providers and C.C.O's (Council Controlled Organisations). Smart people will go with the flow! Despite spending large amounts of ratepayer's money the Historic Village flooded yet again. And again the question has to be asked – what is the future for ratepayers and the village? It looks like a bottomless pit for ratepayer's money.